New victim tells story of abuse in foster home
Source: Agencies |
October 19, 2011, Wednesday
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ALLEGATIONS of systematic rape at a government-run foster home in Austria grew yesterday when a lawyer said a third woman had come forward to claim she was victimized decades ago.
The woman claims two of the children died as a result, according to the attorney.
Lawyer Thomas Oelboeck represents two sisters claiming they and 18 other girls were raped for years in the early 1970s in the institution run by the city of Vienna.
He said the third woman asserts children at the Schloss Wilhelminenberg home were also regularly raped during her time there in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
"This woman, around 70 years old, reports the same series of abuse and rape as my clients," Oelboeck told reporters. "Furthermore, this woman speaks of (two) deaths that occurred in the years 1948-53 in great detail because she was present in one of the cases and has indirect knowledge of the other."
Municipal authorities have expressed shock at the new allegations, which follow reports of individual abuse, and have pledged to set up a commission to investigate.
But while acknowledging some children were seriously mistreated in the now closed Vienna foster homes, they say it is unlikely the claims of mass rapes now surfacing could have been kept from the public for decades.
However, officials of Weisser Ring, the non-governmental victims' organization tasked since last year with investigating cases of abuse at city foster homes, say its psychologists interviewed the two sisters making the original claims and found their story believable.
Oelboeck said: "The women are totally believable and authentic. A story of this kind cannot be made up."
Weisser Ring manager Marianne Gammer said based on what the women told the therapists, her organization would have recommended criminal or civil charges "were it not for the statute of limitations on such crimes."
She said Weisser Ring, which is authorized by the city to pay compensation for foster home victims, granted the each woman 35,000 euros (US$50,000) - 10,000 euros more than the formal limit of 25,000 euros, because the apparent degree of their suffering was so great "our panel decided to give them more," she said.
Oelboeck, who says he is not being paid to represent the victims, said the third woman was also awarded 35,000 euros.
The allegations first surfaced this weekend, when two sisters said they and the other 18 girls were regularly raped by six or seven men. The sisters, now 47 and 49, said the abuse began when they were six and eight and ended in their early teens, when the institution was shut in 1977.
One woman said foster home personnel "always dolled us up. We had to wear garter belts and were not allowed to cut our hair."
The woman claims two of the children died as a result, according to the attorney.
Lawyer Thomas Oelboeck represents two sisters claiming they and 18 other girls were raped for years in the early 1970s in the institution run by the city of Vienna.
He said the third woman asserts children at the Schloss Wilhelminenberg home were also regularly raped during her time there in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
"This woman, around 70 years old, reports the same series of abuse and rape as my clients," Oelboeck told reporters. "Furthermore, this woman speaks of (two) deaths that occurred in the years 1948-53 in great detail because she was present in one of the cases and has indirect knowledge of the other."
Municipal authorities have expressed shock at the new allegations, which follow reports of individual abuse, and have pledged to set up a commission to investigate.
But while acknowledging some children were seriously mistreated in the now closed Vienna foster homes, they say it is unlikely the claims of mass rapes now surfacing could have been kept from the public for decades.
However, officials of Weisser Ring, the non-governmental victims' organization tasked since last year with investigating cases of abuse at city foster homes, say its psychologists interviewed the two sisters making the original claims and found their story believable.
Oelboeck said: "The women are totally believable and authentic. A story of this kind cannot be made up."
Weisser Ring manager Marianne Gammer said based on what the women told the therapists, her organization would have recommended criminal or civil charges "were it not for the statute of limitations on such crimes."
She said Weisser Ring, which is authorized by the city to pay compensation for foster home victims, granted the each woman 35,000 euros (US$50,000) - 10,000 euros more than the formal limit of 25,000 euros, because the apparent degree of their suffering was so great "our panel decided to give them more," she said.
Oelboeck, who says he is not being paid to represent the victims, said the third woman was also awarded 35,000 euros.
The allegations first surfaced this weekend, when two sisters said they and the other 18 girls were regularly raped by six or seven men. The sisters, now 47 and 49, said the abuse began when they were six and eight and ended in their early teens, when the institution was shut in 1977.
One woman said foster home personnel "always dolled us up. We had to wear garter belts and were not allowed to cut our hair."
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